Life on the High Plains

 Here's a little more on our trip to New Hampshire in September. We stayed in Lincoln, NH and a local recommended the Wayside Diner for breakfast.  It was a little out of the way but well worth the drive. I love this kind of place.  So much character and history.  The breakfast was fantastic. Afterwards we headed out on the Kancamagus Highway to do a little hiking.  First stop was Sabbaday Falls in the White Mountain National Forest. I wondered how it got the name Sabbaday Falls.  It was originally called Church's Falls after a landscape painter, Frederic Church.  Legend says that some workmen who were building a highway hid their tools near the falls as winter was approaching and named it after the Sabbath.  They didn't want to carry their tools all the way home only to return in the spring.  They never completed the road, but the name stuck. It's also said that on the day of rest settlers would walk to the falls on the Sabbath. A hotel owne...

One of my favorite stops along our journey was a stop at the Coastal Maine Botanic Gardens.  We're a fan of the Thomas Dambo trolls and when we learned five of them were in one location we had to go! Our journey took us on many different country roads turning every few miles onto a new one because there was no main thoroughfare to our destination.  It was a lengthy journey, but well worth it. We finally arrived! You could definitely tell it was nearing the end of the season for the garden, but there were still some amazing blooms we enjoyed along the troll hunt. The first troll we came across was Roskva.  She stands for the trunks. The trolls have three things to teach us:  1) Save seeds and plant more trees, 2) Reduce and reuse, and 3) Discover and share stories of the woods.  It's no wonder I love these trolls so much--they stand for everything I believe in. Really cool sculptures! This is Lilja.  She is still a child and holds the scents of the flowers. ...